It started well enough. At a town hall in the riding of Calgary-Northeast, a man began his question to Stéphane Dion by saying, "I've never voted Liberal in my life but I'm willing to give it a try."

Alison Crawford

Within seconds though, the man transformed, "Tell me why the Liberal party should be allowed to rape the economy of Alberta, to take our resources like Pierre Elliott Trudeau did under the National Energy Program, to rape our resources and send them back to Ontario, to a bunch of people that don't want to work."

The crowd booed loudly and Dion responded by saying, "Thank you sir. You are welcome here but I think Ontarians are very hard-working people — Albertans too."

The crowd cheered, drowning out the man who continued to yell, "Go home!"

— Alison Crawford